Because I Care
by StarlightKat
Summary: Karamatsu comes home injured and Ichimatsu doesn't know how to feel. Can be seen as IchiKara/KaraIchi if you squint or just brotherly love.


Staggering down the street, Karamatsu slowly made his way home. He attempted stifling a yawn but the pain in his jaw made him wince. It was almost midnight and he had meant to come home a lot sooner but he ended up getting caught in something he probably shouldn't have done. Though, had he not done what he did, someone else would've seriously gotten hurt.

He was doing his usual leisurely stroll around the city. Winning some money from pachinko had put him in a good mood and thought walking around the streets was a good idea before coming home to his brothers, where they were probably going to jump him if he ever revealed about his winnings. Passing an alleyway, he had heard some voices and turning his attention to the noise, he caught three delinquents surrounding a poor helpless high school boy.

 _"So, with that fancy watch of yours I'm assuming you have some money, right? So, hand it over," one of the delinquents demanded._

 _The student meekly ripped out his wallet from his bag and dropped it. Clutching his school bag against his chest, he turned to run away but a hand grabbed his arm and yanked him back._

 _"Thanks for the money kid, but we're not done with you yet," another delinquent smirked. Then turning to the other two, he nodded his head, "You know the drill, roughen your fists up."_

 _"Uh- p-please spare me I d-did what you asked!" the student pleaded but seeing one of their fists raised made him cover his face with his arms defensively. The blow never came and lowering his arms, he saw that someone had grabbed the attackers elbow._

 _"Good evening fellows," Karamatsu greeted, flashing his signature smile and shining eyes behind his shades. "I witnessed your exchange of words with his boy and it seems that since you got what you wanted you should keep your promise of letting him go-" he was suddenly cut off by a fist slamming onto his cheek, his shades flew off as he slammed to the ground on his back._

 _"Who the hell is this loser?" the delinquent that had punched him sneered._

 _"Ah..." Karamatsu pulled his upper body up into a sitting position, "It is I, the one and only Karamatsu Matsu-" A kick to his face glued him back to the ground._

 _"He talks funny," another delinquent laughed._

 _Turning his head to the side, Karamatsu nodded at the boy still standing there petrified. Taking that as a signal the boy whispered a 'thank you' before darting away._

 _"Shit dude he ran away," the delinquent now stepping on Karamatsu's chest said. Despite the disappointment, his lips curved into a Cheshire grin, "At least we got a much more interesting person to play with."_

A sudden harsh cough caused Karamatsu to bend over and cover his mouth. He was aching all over. Bruises definitely littered all over his body but the worse was probably the one on his eye. He couldn't see it, but the throbbing pain around it told so otherwise. He constantly licked his lips, tasting the blood on his upper lip signaling that it had split. _My winnings..._ Karamatsu mentally whimpered. Before the delinquents had took off they noticed the lump in his pocket and finding out that it was money they snatched it and fled. Sure, he was hurting and disappointed, but knowing that he had saved someone else from a beating sprouted a large pride in him.

Reaching the door of the house, he quietly cracked it open and slid inside. After taking his shoes off he noticed that the light in the living room was on and Karamatsu immediately panicked. Why were they on? Were his brothers still awake? It was a Saturday so they stayed up later than usual but still, Karamatsu feared walking by to have them see such damages on him.

Walking down the hallway as quietly as he could he tried to bypass the open screen that led to the living room and head straight to the stairs towards the bathroom and examine his injury.

"Karamatsu nii-san is here!" Jyushimatsu announced to all his brothers enthusiastically. He had been staring at the hallway the whole time, waiting for his brother to come back home.

Karamatsu halted and tensed. He had tried so hard to finish walking down the hallway to the stairs but it seemed that luck was not on his side again today. Sighing, he turned to where he now faced the living room. Only Jyushimatsu was staring at him, everyone else seemed immersed on whatever they were doing on the floor.

"Karamatsu nii-san is here everyone!" Jyushimatsu repeated. "Nii-san is home he's..." He trailed off when taking in the sight of his brother, "Nii-san what happened!?"

The sudden change in his voice immediately caught everyone's attention and turned their heads to see Karamatsu walking into the living room.

"Whoa," Osomatsu commented, "What the hell happened?" He along with some others stood up and approached him.

"Oh my god Karamatsu nii-san you're bleeding!" Choromatsu panicked as he reached out to hold his face and examined it.

Karamatsu gently swatted his hands away and smiled, "Ah my dear brothers, it seemed that I had gotten into a disagreement with some delinquents."

"Delinquents?" Osomatsu asked, "What was the argument about? Was it because you tried wooing one of their girls?" he joked.

Choromatsu chided him, "This isn't a time to be joking!" Turning back to Karamatsu he asked, "How are you feeling? I'll go get the medical kit." Without waiting for a response, he rushed out of the living room.

"What did you do?" Todomatsu asked from the table. His brows furrowed and lips formed into a small frown.

"NII-SAN!" Jyushimatsu hurled himself at Karamatsu and hugged him tightly. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Ouch! Jyushimatsu that hurts," Karamatsu wheezed. He felt the arms around him loosen and looking down he saw Jyushimatsu's face buried in his chest. His eyes widened at all the attention he was receiving. He was genuinely surprised that his brothers cared about his wellbeing much less acknowledged him. He was truly happy that tears formed at the corner of his eyes. Raising a sore arm, he rested his hand on Jyushimatsu's head and rubbed it. "It's okay, I'm fine," he reassured.

In the corner of the room, Ichimatsu sat curled up with a sleeping stray cat on his knees as he eyed the interaction between his brothers. Only he and Todomatsu, who took a picture of Karamatsu and continued texting on his phone, hadn't gone up to check on him. He didn't need to, he could see what he looked like just fine from across the room. It wasn't like he had anything to say to him anyways. Returning his attention back to the cat, Ichimatsu stroked its soft fur. He felt comforted by petting cats. It helped calm him down from the growing concern he'd been trying to deny since his brother walked in all battered up.

"Are you worried too?"

Startled, Ichimatsu accidentally woke the cat up causing it to dash out of the room. He looked up irritated to see Jyushimatsu standing next to him, looking down on him with the same wide smile.

"About what?" he tried to play off.

Jyushimatsu's smile didn't waiver which made Ichimatsu shift uncomfortably, "It would be reassuring to be there for him too."

Ichimatsu laughed, making Jyushimatsu step back hesitantly. "As if I cared for trash like him," he scoffed. Abruptly getting up, he stomped past Jyushimatsu who tried to call his name. He bumped shoulders with Karamatsu but didn't even so much as look at him nor apologized as he left the room.

Karamatsu watched Ichimatsu leave before turning back to Ososmatsu, "Did...did I do something wrong?"

Osomatsu waived a hand dismissively, "Nah, he's probably mad that he won't get to bully you since you already look like shit." He snickered but seeing his brother's distress caused him to stop. "Look, you did nothing wrong. He's probably also worried but is just too stingy to show it," he said, hooking his arm around Karamatsu's shoulders.

Karamatsu's gaze trailed to the floor, "I see..."

Entering the bedroom after brushing his teeth, Karamatsu looked around to search Ichimatsu but to his disappointment he was not around as the rest of his brothers were except for Jyushimatsu who had gone to get water in the kitchen. It had been an hour since Ichimatsu had left the house but he had not returned since then. _Was it because of me? Was it because of my pathetic state when I came home that made him angry with me?_ Multiple scenarios ran through his mind to the point he had to shake his head to rid of the negative thoughts. He was concerned about Ichimatsu. He worried that something bad had happened to him since it was past midnight. What if Jyushimatsu knew where he was? He had seen them talking alone earlier so Ichimatsu must've told him where he went.

Having a little hope, he waited for his brother and walked over when he entered the room, "Jyushimatsu? Do you know where Ichimatsu is?"

The younger gulped the glass of water in one go and wiped his mouth before replying, "He's in the bathroom!"

"Huh? But I was the last person to-"

"He's in the bathroom!" he repeated, "I saw him sneak in after you did!"

"Oh, he is?" Karamatsu sighed, feeling a little relived. Then suddenly remembering Ichimatsu's bitterness from earlier he asked, "Well is he okay?"

Either he was imagining it or it was so faint that Jyushimatsu's grin fell a bit before immediately grinning wider. "He's okay, A-Okay!" he shoved a thumbed-up hand in front of Karamatsu's face.

Karamatsu backed away, "I see, well I'm glad he's back then." His brother's answer felt as if a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. He looked to the floor where the other three were already on the futon under the blanket. "C'mon we should go to sleep now."

"Ouch!" Ichimatsu winced. He was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom cleaning his cut lip. He looked like hell but not as bad as Karamatsu was. The only other mark on his face was a light bruise on his cheek. He just hoped that Jyushimatsu didn't mention it to anyone when he went to the bedroom. When he was about to enter the bathroom Jyushimatsu had called him from behind and turning around Jyushimatsu caught the injuries on his face and was about to yell something before Ichimatsu had to clamp his mouth shut with his hand. _Don't tell anyone_ he had whispered to him and watched as Jyushimatsu meekly nodded his head before letting him go and watching him trudge off. Looking at himself through the mirror, he sighed. He hadn't meant to get involved in a fight but it was something that he just couldn't let slip away.

 _Walking down the street, Ichimatsu didn't know where he was even going. Further down was a convenient store but he didn't have any money so there was no point of going in. How long was he going to be out? He would have to come home soon but he didn't want to face any of his brothers just yet. He left a bad impression leaving and he was sure Shittymatsu was going to talk to him once he got home. Now thinking about it, he should have at least muttered an apology when he bumped into him but it was too late for that now._

 _"You should've seen the fear on his face!"_

 _Ichimatsu halted. The sound came from an alleyway he was just about to pass. Instead of passing it, he went to the brick wall and leaned against it to overhear the conversation._

 _"I know right?" Another voice laughed, "He even had tears in his eye!"_

 _"Holy shit that was so hilarious to see! It's such a shame we had to leave him to meet our dealer somewhere else. I really wanted to hear him scream."_

 _Ichimatsu clenched his fists hard that his nails dug into his palms. They never said the name but he knew. He knew they were referring to Karamatsu. His stomach felt sick and his heartbeat sped up. What was he supposed to do? He wanted to rip them to shreds but he knew he would be on the ground instantly if he faced them. If only Osomatsu was with him could he have those delinquents knocked some sense into them. The oldest was the best fighter out of all of them._

 _"But remember when I said that nobody would come even if he did scream? He said that we were probably right with such a confident smile on!"_

 _"He's probably a loner. Such a sad guy I'd say. He didn't have much money either."_

 _"Do you think no one would have cared if he died?"_

 _"Heh, probably not-" the delinquent was cut off from a fist ramming into the back of his head as he fell to the ground, "Wha-What the hell?!"_

 _Ichimatsu growled, glaring at the three. The moment the bastard had said that his feet immediately moved him to them and his right fist moved into action. "I honestly don't know why scums like you guys exist," he seethed, "But it was your mother's mistake to let you live."_

 _"Who the hell..." the delinquent said getting off from the floor scowling at him, "It's you!"_

 _"Yes, it's me." Ichimatsu said monotone. They mistook him for Karamatsu, but that was alright. He'd play with them._

 _A different delinquent approached him, "How do you look perfectly normal?"_

 _"Does it really matter?" another said as he approached Ichimatsu also, "We'll just mess him up again."_

 _Ichimatsu was barely able to doge the first fist coming at him. Grabbing the delinquent's arm that now stretched out, he dug into his hoodie's pocket with his other hand and shoved his knife into the arm. He was thankful and glad that he had taken his knife with him before going out. The streets at night were never exactly safe._

 _"Ah!" the now injured stranger yelled, examining his bloody arm. "Y-You-!"_

 _"Shut up," Ichimatsu spat, bringing his dirty weapon up, letting the metal glisten from the moon's light. "Learn your place."_

"Ah...shit," he muttered poking the bruise on his cheek that had darkened. Washing his face for the umpteenth time, he looked at himself through the mirror again. Both the bruise and cut lip which had stopped bleeding was definitely going to be noticeable tomorrow for his brothers to see. Though at this point he didn't care, he was tired as hell. He was just glad it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He knew he wasn't able to those handle three guys but before they had the upper hand a patrol police had approached nearby making them dash for it. He was still pissed off that he wasn't able to do much more. He was able to scar another one but it just wasn't enough to satisfy himself.

His grip on the bathroom counter tightened. Just how stupid did Karamatsu have to be to barge into something that he couldn't control? Did he not care about his life? Did he really think that no one would care about what happened to him? His chest hurt, it wasn't from something that the delinquents had done, but from the thought of losing that Shittymatsu. The fear of losing any brother was always something that made him wake up in the middle of the night and knowing that it could've happened earlier today suddenly made him regret not going to Karamatsu to see if he was truly okay.

Slapping his cheeks and ignoring the pain from the bruise to rid the thoughts, Ichimatsu left the bathroom and headed towards the bedroom. He slid the door open and after entering, he closed it and tiptoed his way to his empty spot next to Karamatsu. Careful not to wake anyone, he crouched down and shuffled down onto the futon, placing the blanket over himself. He was facing the wall with his back towards Karamatsu and curiously, he turned the other way around to face his brother.

Karamatsu was facing him, his face more relaxed as he lightly snored. Even though it was dark, Ichimatsu clearly saw the medical patch covering his one eye and the plasters on parts of his face. Choromatsu must have thought that every part of his face had to be covered. His face may look clean, but Ichimatsu was aware of the nasty injuries behind it, a lot was probably all over his body too. The imagery of Karamatsu still in pain even when asleep made his stomach twist.

 _He still looks peaceful when he's sleeping though,_ Ichimatsu thought. He had the sudden urge to touch his brother's cheek. Reaching his hand out, he fingers were close to touching the soft skin of Karamatsu's face but he hesitated. _He's fine._ He quickly retracted his hand back to his side. _I don't have to worry._ He was about to turn back around to face the wall again but strong arms suddenly pulled him to a body.

Ichimatsu gasped at the sudden contact. His face pressed against Karamatsu's chest and he attempted to pull away but the arms around him tightened. "Oi," he whispered, he tried to sound irritated but it wavered, "What are you-"

"I was worried."

Eyes widening, Ichimatsu looked up to see Karamatsu's face. His eyes were still closed and he wore a small soft smile. Ichimatsu was speechless; he had caused him to feel concerned for him even though he was the one in pain.

 _"Whoa, what the hell happened?"_

 _"Oh my god Karamatsu nii-san you're bleeding!"_

 _"What did you do?"_

 _"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"_

Ichimatsu bit his lip to keep it from quivering any further. He reached an arm around Karamatsu's back and shakily grabbed the shirt's fabric. Digging his face back into his brother's chest, sure that Karamatsu could feel the liquid from his eyes staining his shirt, he whispered.

"Yeah, me too."

* * *

 _A/N: Ehehe I've fallen into Osomatsu hell and these two are my favorites. I really love Karamatsu and I always feel so bad for him by the way he's getting ignored and sometimes mistreated... Honestly if Karamatsu came home like that in the anime literally no one would care if he was injured and that just breaks my heart. So yes, I made his brothers care because I want Karamatsu to be happy. The day he is loved, respected, and acknowledged is the day I can die in peace._

 _Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it! It really makes me happy and it encourages me to write more. :D_


End file.
